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Thread: What to do?
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09-10-2018, 08:21 AM #1
What to do?
Hi, Thanks for accepting me on the site.
I know absolutly nothing about Koi or pond maintenace but have just moved to a cottage with a fish pond.
The previuos owners have left food and my daughter (15) has looked up how and when to feed them.
The pond seems small approx. 1.5m X 2m and 60/70cm. deep it contains 6 quite large fish about 6/7" long and has a fountain and water feature.
The pound is fairly clear but is coated with algae on the sides and bottom although the fish look lively enough.
Is there a company locally (Neath) who can clean the pond and advise on maintanance or is it best to move the fish on to someone who can look after them?
Any advice, please?
p.s. How long do you leave the fountain running? Thanks again.
Last edited by verticalwater; 09-10-2018 at 08:29 AM. Reason: spelling
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09-10-2018, 10:35 AM #2
Hello and welcome, you've come to the right place for advice.
OK your measurements of 1.5m x 2m x 0.6m to 0.7m make the pond about 1800 to 2100 litres or 400 to 466 gallons which is a bit small for Koi but OK for gold fish. I think those volumes are correct?
6" to 7" for Koi is very small as they would be around that size after a year or 2 normally, I think you'll find. For gold fish it's small to medium depending on how old they are I would say.
Do you know what the fish actually are? as in Koi or gold fish etc? Is it possible to post a picture of them on here?
If you only have a pump, a water feature and a fountain but no proper filter and you are saying the water is fairly clear I would guess you only have gold fish as the waste Koi produce even at that size would mean your water would not be clear.
Algae on the sides and bottom as long as it's not long strands of blanket weed is a good sign I would have thought.
For Koi you really need something around 4500 litres or 1000 gallons with a depth of about 1 meter ideally as they can grow to 2ft to 3ft depending on the water quality, feeding rate, conditions etc. Then you will need good filtration. To get good filtration you will need a good turnover rate of water which requires a decent size pump as you should be looking at pumping the entire volume of pond water through your filter about once every half hour to an hour but the water needs to spend enough time in the filters for the media to do it's job and build up enough bacteria to make the water safe for the fish as their waste produces Ammonia which gets broken down into Nitrite and then into Nitrate by the filter media.
Take a look on Mankey Snake's website here -
Home
He's a member on here too.
As I'm only going on the information you put in your post above my reply is a bit of a generalisation but the more information you can give the more accurate the answers you will be able to receive OK.
As for how long to keep the fountain running, it's a bit of a catch 22 as if it's your only source of water movement then you need to keep it running all the time but the problem is, any water it is spraying or pumping into the air will be getting cooled down and as a result will be cooling down the pond water too. But at the same time it is aerating the water which is a good thing. Maybe others can suggest options for you on that issue. Again the more info you can give us the better the answers will be.
Adding photos is fairly easy as there is a link on the top of the text box - top row of icons 3rd icon in from the right - says insert image. Then just find the image on your computer and go from there. A lot of people use Tapatalk? as it's easier apparently. If you use the icon above just make sure that the photos you have taken that you want to put on here are taken in landscape not portrait style as the photos tend to be put on landscape so anything taken in portrait will be on their sides. Still OK to view but easier if they are the same way as you are taking the photos if that makes sense? I think Tapatalk puts them on the same way as you've taken them so doesn't automatically flip them onto their sides?
As for moving the fish on, that will depend on what they are as to if you need to or not possibly.
If you get someone in to maintain your pond it could cost you a fair few quid so better if you can do it your self as the more you will learn about the fish and the pond etc. in the process hopefully.
At the end of the it is possible to keep most fish in most size ponds within reason but it comes down to how much maintenance you are willing to do to keep them going so although it may be possible it may not be feasible to do for various reasons. If they are Koi then you could always keep them in there for a year or so until they get a bit bigger then either move them on or build a bigger pond if you decide you want to keep them?
Good luck with whatever you decide and I hope I haven't scared you off or sent you to sleep with my epic length reply
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verticalwater, john1 Thanked / Liked this Post
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09-10-2018, 07:31 PM #3
Thanks, Will post pictures tomorrow.
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Frimley Koi keeper Thanked / Liked this Post
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09-10-2018, 07:35 PM #4
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10-10-2018, 07:50 PM #5
Thanks for your help. My daughter has taken a few pics. Are these Gold fish??
IMG_1725.jpgIMG_1726.jpg
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10-10-2018, 08:05 PM #6
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Frimley Koi keeper Thanked / Liked this Post
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11-10-2018, 06:17 PM #7
Bit difficult to say 100% from those photos TBH
Are they about 6" long? Do you know how old they are as I would have thought Koi would have been about that size after a year or two even in that size pond.
If you put some food in will they come up to eat with you standing there? if so, you might be able to get a couple of photos that will make it easier to say what they are?
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verticalwater Thanked / Liked this Post
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11-10-2018, 06:18 PM #8
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11-10-2018, 08:57 PM #9
It can be difficult some times to get a decent photo as what you see and what the camera sees are quite often very different. Good luck.
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12-10-2018, 09:31 PM #10
Koi have barbels,gold fish don't
Best plants to remove Nitrate
pug has a very impressive veg filter on his pond, have a look at some of his his youtube videos....